The present invention relates to a connector contact suitably used in a multi-contact type connector, and a method of manufacturing the same.
Generally, as a connector contact used in a connector and the like, a fork contact, formed by punching a metal contact material by a press or the like and having two contact surfaces formed by plating respective plating target surfaces, is known.
FIG. 5 shows the schematic structure of a conventional fork contact disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-117574 (reference 1). Referring to FIG. 5, a U-shaped fork contact 51 has two contact arms 51a and 51b parallel to each other, a contact support 51c for supporting the two contact arms 51a and 51b, and an external connecting terminal 51d projecting from the contact support 51c. 
The fork contact 51 having the above structure is manufactured in the following manner. First, a contact material made of a metal plate is punched to form a first contact forming piece 61 integrally having two contact arm forming portions 61a and 61b parallel to each other, a contact support 61c for supporting the two contact arm forming portions 61a and 61b, and an external connecting terminal 61d projecting from the contact support 61c, as shown in FIG. 6.
The distal end portions of the contact arm forming portions 61a and 61b of the first contact forming piece 61 are twisted by 90 degrees to form a second contact forming piece having opposing plating target surfaces (contact arm surfaces). The plating target surfaces of the second contact forming piece are plated to form contact surfaces. In this manner, the fork contact 51 shown in FIG. 5 is fabricated.
In the conventional fork contact 51 described above, since the plating target surfaces are opposed to each other by twisting the second contact forming piece, the external form width (dimensions from the left end of 61a to the right end of 61b) of the whole of the contact arm forming portions 61a and 61b must be set to be larger than that of the contact support 61c. As the plating target surfaces oppose each other during plating, when they are subjected to plating from the punched surface side (perpendicular to the sheet surface of 51c), the plating material undesirably attaches to portions other than the plating target surfaces such as the sheared surfaces.
As a result, the number of contact forming pieces obtained from one contact material decreases, and a large amount of plating material is necessary for plating, leading to an increase in manufacturing cost. As the second contact forming piece is subjected to twisting, it is difficult to keep the parallel degree between the contact surfaces, and the reliability of the machining precision decreases.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-152051 (reference 2) disclosed a fork contact having L-shaped contact arms with distal end portions bent through 90 degrees. This structure, however, does not solve the problems described above.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector contact manufactured at a low cost, and a method of manufacturing the same.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector contact which can increase the reliability of the machining precision, and a method of manufacturing the same.
In order to achieve the above objects, according to the present invention, there is provided a connector contact comprising a pair of contact arms made of strips having a predetermined thickness and opposing end faces, the contact arms having flat contact surfaces, on inner sides of distal end portions thereof, which are formed by crushing the strips toward the end faces thereof, a contact support for supporting the contact arms, and an external connecting terminal projecting from the contact support.